Eligia Gorge

The gorge of Eligia is wild, long and impressive. The trail to reach the gorge's bed starts in Agios Ioannis village in Sfakia (780m altitude, 92km from Chania). After hiking for 3.5 hours in the gorge ou reach Agios Pavlos beach, which is full of pine trees, and then you need 1 more hour to the west to reach Agia Roumeli.

This however covers only the one third of the total distance inside the gorge (about 13km). So if you wish to cross the whole gorge, you need an experienced guide and two days time. (route: Omalos tableland - Kallergis refuge - Melidaou Peak (2.133m altitude) – Potami (Eligia entrance) of the White Mountains - Agios Pavlos). The route Omalos – Potami needs 6 hours and Potami - Agios Pavlos 6 more hours.

The canyon is full of pine trees, while in some places the descent is so steep that ropes have been places. Also, near the beginning of the gorge there are ruins of one Belgian aircraft crashed here during NATO exercises in 1976. Then two aircrafts had crashed and there were no survivors.

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